Some 1.8 billion people I logged in to Tiktok at least once a month and spent an average of 95 minutes per day through the app, entertaining and educated.
These are incredible numbers, but new research shows that the platform is not the most reliable source of information, especially when it comes to health conditions like ADHD.
A team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada discovered it of the top 100 most viewed tiktok videos tagged for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Content matched content with less than half of the specialized diagnostic criteria for the condition.
The video, which collectively gained nearly 500 million views in total, was primarily based on personal experience and opinions. They often missed the nuances of ADHD. For example, how symptoms differ between people.
“Titktok can be an incredible tool to raise awareness and reduce stigma, but it also has its downsides.” say Vasileia Karasavva, UBC clinical psychologist.
“Anecology and personal experience are strong, but lack of context can lead to misconceptions about ADHD and mental health in general.”
The researchers also conducted the experiment using the five most accurate videos of the top 100, as judged by clinical psychologists. These 10 clips were shown to have taken an induction psychology course in 843 undergraduates and were asked to assess them based on perceived educational values.
The top five videos averaged 3.6 points from psychologists for accuracy, but they only got a score of 2.8 from students. The five videos with worst accuracy earned 1.1 from psychologists, but 2.3 from students.
The meaning is clear. There is a huge gap between expert opinions on Tiktok’s ADHD video and casual audience opinions. The likelihood of such misinformation can affect the number of people diagnosed and treated.
“Our findings highlight the contradictions between mental health professionals and young adults regarding the psychoeducational value of Tiktok’s ADHD content.” write Researcher of published papers.
“Dealing with this is important to improve access to treatment and enhance support for people with ADHD.”
The study also showed that students who viewed more ADHD content in general were more likely to share it with others and were more likely to consider ADHD to be more common than they actually were.
Tiktok’s content creators are rewarded by attracting opinions rather than providing accurate information, researchers point out, and they want to see more expert content from health professionals shared on the app.
Researchers acknowledge their value in building communities and reaching youth, not anti-ticut. However, they also encourage Tiktok viewers to look for other, more reputable sources.
“Some young adults turn to Tiktok because of barriers to access or negative experiences with mental health professionals.” say Amori Mikami is a professor of psychology at UBC.
This study is published in PLOS 1.
